Steve Bruce

[lexicon]

1 minute ago, macandally said:

Let's be honest, we were lucky.  2 gifts and a free header.

There was still no tempo to our play, we were out fought and often out thought by a Barnsley side who have lost 19 players in the last year and are rebuilding their third side.  We should be winning these games easy, don't buy into Bruce's spin, we did what we should be doing today but we had a huge helping hand.

I feel for those posting the "some posters have gone quiet" rubbish in the match thread.  It's nice to win but in the longer term I am not sure it helps the club build what Tony claims is his future.

A nonsense post, sorry.

We won 3-0 away from home, for all their bluster the hosts were kept at bay by our defence for virtually the whole match and we took our chances as they were presented. What's not to like about today's game?

[DevonIsAPlaceOnEarth]

No complaints today. Wasn't pretty, but we won 3-0. If we do that more often than not we will go up.

[VILLAMARV]

16 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

To be fair, he couldn't hope for a better run of games after this one. Forest, Burton, and Bolton. 7 points minimum from that if he has any ambition of taking us up.

9 points for me. the slack has been cut.

[Xela]

14 minutes ago, Shropshire Lad said:

For me, I've been about 90%, maybe a bit more that he should go.

The only reason I've not been 100% is the further upheaval it would cause and there being no assurance that the new guy will fare any better.

I think Bruce has the capability to get us promoted, he certainly has the players to do so. I don't think it would be pretty, but frankly I don't care. I think he can do it.

The problem is, based on the past 11 months, I'm just unconvinced he will get us promoted.

Good post mate

Before the game I was probably 70-30 in favour of Bruce out. The reason I wasn't 100% out is similar to yours. 

He has the track record to get us up... so I'm not sure it isn't working out. I remain in hope after every win that it will be the one that kick-starts our run of 20 wins on the spin! 

 

[Xela]

12 minutes ago, DevonIsAPlaceOnEarth said:

No complaints today. Wasn't pretty, but we won 3-0. If we do that more often than not we will go up.

Exactly. Bruce teams are never going to pretty and free flowing - he's always been a 'results' manager in this league. 

I'll take performances like that every week if we win 3-0!

[foreveryoung]

7 minutes ago, Xela said:

Exactly. Bruce teams are never going to pretty and free flowing - he's always been a 'results' manager in this league. 

I'll take performances like that every week if we win 3-0!

Problem being the squad is much better than that. But apart from playing a shit Barnsley today, he has no real idea how to get the best out of the players we have. We have players who score goals but can't really get them playing together a quality unit.

For me there is definately a quality squad in there which should be at least hitting the play offs this season. If not there will only be one person to blame.

[Xela]

1 minute ago, foreveryoung said:

Problem being the squad is much better than that. But apart from playing a shit Barnsley today, he has no real idea how to get the best out of the players we have. We have players who score goals but can't really get them playing together a quality unit.

For me there is definately a quality squad in there which should be at least hitting the play offs this season. If not there will only be one person to blame.

Agreed. We have the best squad in the league IMO. We should be promoted this year. 

[DaveAV1]

16 minutes ago, Xela said:

Good post mate

Before the game I was probably 70-30 in favour of Bruce out. The reason I wasn't 100% out is similar to yours. 

He has the track record to get us up... so I'm not sure it isn't working out. I remain in hope after every win that it will be the one that kick-starts our run of 20 wins on the spin! 

 

Yeah and every time I buy a lottery ticket I'm going to be a millionaire. We are on 10 points after 8 games that's 1.25 points per game that would give us 57/58 points over a season. That is reality. He had 35 points from 29 games from February up to tonight's game, that's even less points per game, more reality. I'm sorry but you can dream like we all do,  but reality generally catches up in the end.

That's not a dig at you mate and I enjoyed the game tonight, but I have no confidence that he can sustain results like that. 

[markavfc40]

He got it right today. With Kodjia back it would have been easy to drop Davis but he went with a very attacking line up and it worked a treat.

It is the first game I can remember under him where I thought we actually had a game plan which was to allow Barnsley to have the ball and then spring quickly from the back when we got it.

Hopefully we can build on this now. We are five unbeaten in the league and haven't conceded for three games. We need to string some wins together though to really get some momentum and instill some confidence. Looking at our fixtures before the international break if we can go out with a similar line up to today and the same mentality we should be looking at three wins and hopefully leading to some real optimism amongst the fans and positivity about the place. Over to Bruce.

[striker]

1 hour ago, Eastie said:

Poor comments from Bruce about hysteria and criticism in his post match interview- let's get this straight , the criticism is fully deserved based on what we've witnessed in the 11 months , tonight he deserves praise as does the team but these cheap shots at the critics do him no favours . 

He was criticized fairly based on results and performances - today he has done the job and if he carries on doing his job well it then he will get praise .

if he does  a shit job he must expect and be able to handle criticizm ! 

Stating 'that maybe this will shut a few people up' and sarcastically mentioning 'crisis' at the club again won't do him any favours at all with fans or pundits. Obviously the criticism has got to him but his players had already spoken for him on the pitch so no need for the vindictive smart arsed remarks.

Its a real pity that he didn't just speak with grace and thank the fans for the tremendous support they gave him and the team tonight and left it at that. No need to score more than the three points gained!

Edited September 16, 2017 by striker

[macandally]

37 minutes ago, lexicon said:

A nonsense post, sorry.

We won 3-0 away from home, for all their bluster the hosts were kept at bay by our defence for virtually the whole match and we took our chances as they were presented. What's not to like about today's game?

In your opinion of course!

Some people are easier pleased but I saw nothing today to suggest we are good enough to get promoted.  We were ragged and disjointed and were fortunate with two punts over the top and two Barnsley mistakes.

Today we were lucky, the law of averages mean we won't have that for the next 40 games, at some point we have to actually play like a team.

[Strangeways]

22 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Confidence grew when we beat two teams in a row and had found a system (albeit by accident) and players which worked.

He then changed it and f*cked it up.

I think we are now BEYOND being conned by 1 or 2 results, we scraped 6 or 7 in a row last season, we can always fluke results and have sporadic performances.

It's now the meat of the matter. He is NOT the man to take us forward.

Sit down slow down and relax. He's the man

 

[Xela]

8 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

Yeah and every time I buy a lottery ticket I'm going to be a millionaire. We are on 10 points after 8 games that's 1.25 points per game that would give us 57/58 points over a season. That is reality. He had 35 points from 29 games from February up to tonight's game, that's even less points per game, more reality. I'm sorry but you can dream like we all do,  but reality generally catches up in the end.

That's not a dig at you mate and I enjoyed the game tonight, but I have no confidence that he can sustain results like that. 

The start to the season hasn't been good enough I agree but we have 3 games coming up in the league now and I expect 9 points. Maybe I'm living in fantasy land but I am confident it can click soon. 

We'll soon see I guess. 

[DaveAV1]

2 minutes ago, Xela said:

The start to the season hasn't been good enough I agree but we have 3 games coming up in the league now and I expect 9 points. Maybe I'm living in fantasy land but I am confident it can click soon. 

We'll soon see I guess. 

You're right only time will tell, and the next three games are definitely winnable. I guess I've become rather cynical, but I'd be more than happy if you're right and I'm wrong.

[Jareth]

0-3 - davis debut goal - I could not be more happy. Bruce is right to feel the heat, if not he may have set up far more defensively today - but he didn't.

[Vive_La_Villa]

Happy with win but I expect a win against a team like Barnsley regardless of formation and team selection. It's why so much money has been spent on the 'squad' 

Hopefully we kick on from here and get to an average of 2 points a game. 

[DaveAV1]

1 minute ago, Jareth said:

0-3 - davis debut goal - I could not be more happy. Bruce is right to feel the heat, if not he may have set up far more defensively today - but he didn't.

Last time he felt the heat was before the Norwich game. Perhaps we should tell him how he's on his way out before every game and then he will play more expansively all the time. I'd love is to go on a run and get in the race for promotion, but I can't say I feel a great deal of confidence for the next 38 games to produce that. 

[peterms]

I see he made a comment about it not having been possible to play 2 up front before today.  Said something similar in the pre-match presser, about players not being available.

Is that true?

[sidcow]

At the end of the day I have mentioned on here several times that I have deleted every Villa game I have recorded for the last couple of years without watching it back.

I will probably still delete this without re-watching. 

The scoreline makes it sound like a great victory but it really wasn't. 

I am delighted with the win but we rode our luck at times 

Essentially until we went 2 - 0 up we were really no better and often second best to a very poor Barnsley team and there were a number of times where the game actually could have turned the other way. 

We won well but the performance did nothing to convince me we are about to start challenging for promotion. 

[Jareth]

1 minute ago, DaveAV1 said:

Last time he felt the heat was before the Norwich game. Perhaps we should tell him how he's on his way out before every game and then he will play more expansively all the time. I'd love is to go on a run and get in the race for promotion, but I can't say I feel a great deal of confidence for the next 38 games to produce that. 

Well no-one does - but it was away from home, on sky and it was a big win. It doesn't rub out the season so far, but another win next game and we are in contention oddly enough. seems unreal.